Don't Be Afraid

The latest- my relatively inexperienced mother's day out teachers made me participate in a fire drill the Tuesday before the hurricane. I have been traumatized ever since. I am ultra aware of every smoke detector, security alarm or sprinkler system. I go out of my way to walk around them; stand far from them and make sure mom and dad know I don't like them. Well, we went back to school today and I'm still afraid of the smoke detector and fire drills. To try to help me out Daddy got me my own smoke detector. He screwed with it so that it is not ear piercingly loud but I'm in control of it and that is what matters. I even slept with it last night. I think we are going to have a family drill sometime soon. Hopefully that works to soothe my fears too! Keep you posted.

Ike and the Aftermath

So, as you can read below we survived Ike. Our house is ok. The house where we stayed had some more damage. My cousins (Michael Patrick and Veronica) house was in Crystal Beach. We can still see something there on Google Earth but it isn't promising. Mommy says please keep them in your prayers while we wait to see what becomes of Crystal Beach. These hurrican pics are out of order. Here you can see that after Ike blew through we were bored. To jazz things up a little Mimi took me across the street from the Paczosa's house to visit the fire department. Mommy came out to see where I was and saw all the flashing lights at the fire department and knew Mimi was at work! I got to play on everything. I even got to run the sirens.
Here we are on the antique truck. You can see our nice firefighter, Matthew, standing by. He forced Mommy to be in this picture even though she looks like doggie poo.
This was me trying to nap after the storm with no electricity. Dude, it was HOT.
Davis didn't really get the storm but sure enjoyed having us all around for the last week.

Here is Davis the morning of the storm. He was hot too. Luckily, the weather got pretty cool Sunday and has been nice until today.
This was us playing by the pool the night before the storm- seriously.
The Paczosa's pool right after the eye of the storm came through.
The Paczosa's dining room...not good Ike.
The night after the storm, it rained again. I couldn't take being inside any longer so I actually played in that rain!

Luke 26 months

Luke here. 26 months. I'm so big. I talk just like a grown up now. Yesterday I told mommy to drop me off at Mimi's house BY MYSELF! What? That just shows how much I like to be independent. I'm testing boundaries and acting like I run the place. I'm back to school (at least before Ike, I was back to school). I'm very aware of current events. Check out my Barack Obama doll. I see that dude on tv at night and then I ran into him in the form of a doll at Urban Outfitters. I made momma buy one for me and one for Mr. Randy for his birthday. Now I don't go far without my Barack Obama doll. He even rode out the hurricane with us. To be fair, I'm also reading the John McCain book for kids. I've been wearing pull ups and big boy undies. I have even gone both kinds of potty on a big boy potty. These accomplishments are rewarded with M&Ms. I've been raking those in! I'm starting to get scared of some stuff, like fire alarms and really dark rooms. I'm trying new foods but deciding I don't like a lot of stuff too. That's part of pushing those boundaries! In return Mommy and Daddy are finding new and creative punishments and are open to suggestions for dealing with a 2 year old. I'll let you know how they do next month.

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Davis- 4 months

Davis here, reporting on my 4 month check up. I'm getting so big! This month I am 14.1 lbs (50%); 25.5 inches (75%). That's the same length as big brother at this time, but 2 pounds lighter. We are blaming that on my constant reflux. I can't keep much down. But I love to eat. So much so that Dr. Injac said that I could start eating rice cereal. You know what that means, real food is right around the corner!I am reaching and grabbing at things. I chatter all the time. I am starting to scoot for good things like my paci. I don't hold that think in my mouth but I do love it. I'm still sleeping through the night and making mommy and daddy happy, happy, happy. I am thrilled with my big brother and watch him all the time. I can spin around in the exersaucer just to keep up with him. He is probably my best friend!!

Hurricane Ike

The Byman family survived the hurricane extremely well compared to most of the other people in the Houston area. We rode out the storm at the Paczosa's in Spring, which actually received more damage than our neighborhood. Saturday was spent trying to limit water damage to the Paczosa's house from water that blew in through the front windows and doors. Matt went to work to check on the conditions of his construction site and came back with a generator, which was used to run the fridge, fans and lights.

Things began to get much better when we went back home on Sunday morning. We found the only damage to our property was to our wood fence, but several neighbors had roof damage. The cold front that blew through on Sunday morning brought much needed cool temperatures. Our good fortune continued when the "little green generator", which hasn't worked the last three times that we tried to start it, decided to come to life in is supplying sufficient power to the Davison house to run the water well for Uncle Mike and the next door neighbor and provide power when needed. We located two window unit air conditioners at a pawn shop in Houston, which we quickly purchased and put to work at the house. The construction site generator had enough power to run lights, fans, fridge and ac units. (ac units have now found new homes with friends that are still on generator power).

Power was restored at our house early on Monday morning and the population of "Fort Byman" began to grow. Marsha and Matt K. returned from Tyler to find that power was on at her house as well. Audra and Tim migrated down from Houston to enjoy the a/c, hot showers and television. A portion of the Montgomery family returned on Tuesday night with a truck load of groceries from Marshall that have been shared with several neighbors, and some of Matt's employees (THANKS NANA AND PAPPY FOR THE FOOD, WE CAN'T THANK YOU ENOUGH!!).

Life is getting back to normal, and we have actually enjoyed spending time with family and neighbors the last few days. Please keep the residents of this area in your thoughts and payers as almost everyone has suffered some sort of loss. Ike was a big, scary storm and the recovery is going to take a very long time.

First Day of School 2008

What a difference a year makes.

Here I am getting ready to go back to school. Momma wanted to take my picture in front of the front door so she could compare my height for years to come!
Julia (my sock monkey, given to me by Julia Cook) was coming to school with me too so she made the picture.
Check out my backpack. Yes, it is McQueen and yes, it is huge.
I made it into my new classroom. Last year they lured me in with snacks. This year play-doh. Those teachers really know how to wow kids in an age appropriate fashion!

Happy Labor Day

We spent the Labor Day holiday at the beach. It was much fun.
Here is Davis in his best pro-labor outfit. Mimi packed him up for the holiday and all of his outfits were beach themed except this one. Mimi is so festive!

This is the Life

What more could an infant ask for? Paci? check. Comfy beach padding? check. Sun tent cover? check. A/c? check. Big Brother preoccupied fishing on the beach? check. Perfect day for Davis.
I had Ade wrapped around my finger! Here I was getting her to color with me and build me domino sculptures. In return, I gave her hugs with pats.
I tore up the beach with my fishing pole. Actually, I tore up my fishing pole too. That's ok, I got a new one on Monday and it lights up!
Gotta get your oranges at the beach.
Davis hardly laid down this weekend. He had lots of hands to hold him. Tia even had the carrier working. This is really the life. We can't wait to go back to the beach.